To Babysit the Captains
by StarCatcher1858
Summary: The Captains are stressed from the hard work after the War, and Urahara has a funny plan. -On Temporary Hiatus, see profile for details. Sorry all!-
1. Prologue

**To Babysit the Captains**

**Part One of the Soul Society Holiday Project**

**Prologue: The Captains Are All Kids?!**

One clear Sunday morning, Yamamoto-Genryuusai Shigekuni, the powerful leader of the Gotei 13 and the greatest shinigami in Soul Society, woke up, yawned and jumped out of his bed as if he was a young man. He hummed a false and hoarse tone while getting dressed in his shihakusho, and happily made his way to the 1st Division Captain Room. As he sat down on his chair, his Vice-Captain, Sasakibe Choujirou, gave him a big, brown envelope while reporting.

"Sir, Urahara Kisuke had requested a meeting with you, Sir. He said that he had something interesting to talk about with you, and that it is an urgent matter," the Western-addict reported.

Hm, Yamamoto thought. What could be interesting and urgent at the same time? Aizen? No way. Aizen's no interesting topic, and Yamamoto was sure that Urahara was well aware of that.

"Sir?" Sasakibe addressed. "What do you think on Urahara Kisuke's meeting request? Should I deny it?"

Yamamoto thought again. Something interesting and urgent would mean something unique -- something that either had never happened in Soul Society, or something that only happened once in a blue moon. This could be amusing, Yamamoto thought.

"No, don't deny it. Let him come," Yamamoto ordered, making the decision.

"Yes, Sir. I will tell him about the matter," Sasakibe bowed slightly at his Captain and disappeared in a flash of shunpo, only to reappear in front of the Senkai gate. He opened the gigantic gate and exited it. He arrived in the Real World, and made his way towards Urahara's humble candy shop.

He knocked at the door. "Is Urahara Kisuke there?" he asked. The door slided open, revealing a meek little girl behind it.

"Yes, Kisuke-san is here. He just woke up a few minutes ago," Ururu answered politely.

"May I meet him?" Sasakibe asked again.

"Yes, please come inside," the black-haired girl answered, gesturing for the vice-captain to enter the store.

"Ah, if it isn't Sasakibe-fukutaichou," Urahara greeted, his right hand on his striped hat. "What honor do I owe to receive a visit from you?"

"Yamamoto-soutaichou had agreed to meet you," Sasakibe replied without wasting much time. "It should be better for you to come with me now, and get with meeting."

"Yes, yes! The faster I get done with this, the better!" Urahara replied in his usual cheerful tone. "Shall we go now?"

Sasakibe said nothing, and opened the Senkai gate for them to go inside Soul Society. He motioned at Urahara to enter the gate first. Urahara walked into the Senkai gate, and was followed by Sasakibe. The two arrived in Soul Society in no time, and made their way towards the 1st Division.

Yamamoto cleared his throat as an approval as Sasakibe and Urahara walked into the room. Yamamoto, clearly interested, wasted no time and asked directly, "Urahara Kisuke. What is the matter do you wish to discuss?"

Urahara grinned. "I heard that Soul Society has been pretty boring after the War," Urahara began with a small talk. "I want to present a fun project to amuse all of us," he continued, chuckling slightly.

What is urgent about this, Yamamoto thought. This is no urgent matter, but this might be interesting.

"Please continue, Kisuke," Yamamoto said, nodding.

"This project will involve all the captains, who had been working hard since the end of the War," he said. "And the vice-captains would have a part too, they've also been stressed," Urahara's grin became wider.

"And what could this project be?" Yamamoto began to get curious.

Urahara shook his head and took something that looked like a pen from the Real World from the inside of his jacket.

"What is that?" Yamamoto asked, even more curious.

"This is... a pen that could amuse all of us!" Urahara said happily, clearly attempting to beat around the bush.

"And... what could it do to amuse us?" Yamamoto was tired of this probably endless conversation.

"Something interesting," Urahara's grin grew even wider. "I would tell you nothing, Soutaichou, but it would be best for you to try by yourself. And all the stressed captains can have fun!"

What is he talking about, Yamamoto pondered. It seemed to him that Urahara was only talking about nonsense. Yamamoto grunted.

"And what's all urgent about this, Urahara? Please make yourself clear," Yamamoto began to get annoyed.

"Please assemble the vice-captains first, we need to know what are their opinion about the matter," Urahara seemed to be throwing a wink at Yamamoto, but it wasn't clear as Urahara's hat was shadowing his face.

Yamamoto thought for a while. Would it be wise to follow Urahara's order? He was the Soutaichou, anyway. He considered it for some time before deciding to do as Urahara wished.

"Fine, then. Sasakibe, please assemble all of the vice-captains in the captain's meeting hall, where the place is bigger," he ordered.

In less than 30 minutes, all of the vice-captains were already assembled in the captain's meeting hall, each of them wondering why they were summoned.

Yamamoto, as usual, sat on the big chair at one of the ends of the room, facing the big door. The vice-captains stood in their captains' order, and Sasakibe stood beside his captain. The vice-captains were surprised to see Urahara standing in front of the room as well, but none of them made any comments. Yamamoto cleared his throat as a sign to commence the meeting, and Sasakibe began speaking.

"Good morning everyone, I know this is pretty early to call all of you for a meeting, but apparently, Urahara Kisuke from the real world has something interesting to show us."

"And what could that interesting thing be?" Oomaeda asked, his mouth full of rice crackers while his fat hands were holding a big bag of them.

"We should ask Kisuke himself about that," Yamamoto interrupted. "So, now, can you please present your idea, whatever it is?"

"Well," Urahara began. "I think everyone in Seireitei, especially the Captains and the Vice-Captains, have been working hard since the end of the Winter War." He paused for a while. Every of the vice-captains stared at him blankly.

"Everyone must be stressed enough," he continued. "Now, I propose a fun plan for the vice-captains, for you all."

"Wait, wait," Yamamoto interrupted. "I thought you said that the Captains are going to be the object of interest of this plan?"

"Ha, that's it," Urahara said. "They are indeed the object of interest of this project, and they're the one we're going to get rid out of stress," Urahara explained with an "XD" face.

"…And what would that project be?" Renji asked with a curious look on his face.

Urahara produced a small, pen-like thing out of his jacket folds, and showed it to everyone in the room proudly.

"Err… What is that, Urahara-san?" Kira asked.

Urahara's expression became mysterious. "This is…" there was a pause between his words as he was trying to make himself sound mysterious. Everyone in the room stared at him curiously. Those at the back began to lean forward to take a closer look.

"This is a…" Urahara repeated himself, and paused again. He opened his mouth to continue, but stopped confusedly. "Eh, what should I call this great creation of mine? It doesn't have a name yet!"

Everyone in the room had angry expressions on their faces and large sweat drops.

"At any case," Urahara resumed his presentation. "This thing can turn an adult into a kid, I meant… a toddler. Like 2 or 3 years old child," he explained to everyone.

Everyone had an O.O look on their faces.

"What would you do with that thing?!" every of the vice-captains, excluding Sasakibe and Nemu, exclaimed at the same time.

"Well, you see, children don't have stress," Urahara spoke casually. "I am going to use this on the captain."

The vice-captains' eyes grew bigger and their mouths gaped so big that their jaw hit the floor.

"What did you just say?! You're going to make our captains kids?!"

"Yes, right!" Urahara grinned and nodded happily. "The captains are obviously stressed from the hard work they have done the past months, and they need refreshing! They can play free and happily if they are children!"

"Are you insane?! And why did you assemble us here instead of our captains?!"

"Well… Actually, I want you guys plus Yamamoto-soutaichou to baby-sit the captains. Yamamoto-soutaichou is going to be the only captain who's not turning into a baby," Urahara explained to them with a jovial grin plastered on his face.

"You want us to what?!" the vice-captains sounded really surprised.

"Baby-sit the captains, with the help of the Soutaichou," Urahara nodded proudly.

"What kind of stress-relieving is that?! Wouldn't that be stress-increasing?!" Renji yelled.

"I think it would be fun! Baby-sitting Ken-chan, yay!" Yachiru squealed happily.

"That would at least relieve the captains' stress, no?" Urahara said. "And I bet you guys would have fun as well since I'm sure none of you have seen your captains in childhood. Wouldn't you like to see that?"

All of the vice-captains stopped for a while and thought. Wouldn't it really be interesting to see their captains at childhood? Who knows if they've got totally different? And hey, Iba got to take care of a possibly-cute puppy! Wouldn't that be nice?

The vice-captains exchanged looks between themselves and all of them agreed to try it.

"Okay, deal. Just do it," Renji spoke up.

Urahara opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Kira.

"But... is it safe? I mean, can you return the captains back to adulthood when this 'project' is over?" Kira asked hesitantly.

"Sure, sure, I can do it! I can reverse the process when I think the captains' minds are relaxed enough!" Urahara said assuringly.

"So, when are you going to do this?" Rangiku asked excitedly. "I want to see Hitsugaya-taichou as a baby! I know he's a child right now, but I still want to see how he is as a toddler!"

In the 10th Division Captain Office, Toushirou sneezed.

Back in the Meeting Room, the presentation had been over and Urahara asked Yamamoto to summon all of the captains. The captains were surprised to receive such an early summon, and thought that there was a really urgent thing. Everyone quickly came into the meeting room and met the vice-captains who were on their way back to their own divisions, giggling madly.

"What's happened?" Ukitake asked.

Yachiru jumped on Kenpachi's back. "Ken-chaaan~! You should come inside, quick!" She jumped down from Kenpachi's back and started giggling non-stop again.

"What's going on, Yachiru?" Kenpachi asked, but Yachiru didn't answer and ran away.

"It seems that our vice-captains have gone mad," Byakuya concluded, glaring at a laughing Renji.

"Maybe that is why we were summoned," Kyouraku said, looking at Nanao who was weirdly giggling.

For short, the captains entered the meeting hall, and before they realized anything, a beam of light was shot at them and all of them collapsed onto the floor.

* * *

**A/n: So how was it? I hope you liked it! I'll try to update asap if you like it! Please Review!**


	2. The Beginning of the Fun Day

**To Babysit the Captains**

**Part One of the Soul Society Holiday Project**

**A/n: I can't believe I forgot to include the disclaimer in the Prologue! O.o Anyway, thanks to everyone who has read, favorited and alerted this story! And special thanks to those who have reviewed! Oh, and I am very sorry for the late update. My computer lagged real bad yesterday thus I wasn't able to type comfortably and finish this chapter… So I'll upload this chapter today and the next tomorrow.**

**Disclaimer: Bleach and everything in it doesn't belong to me.**

**The Beginning of the Fun Day**

The Vice-Captains broke into a laughing fit as their Captains fell to the floor and gradually turned into toddlers. They had been peeping outside the meeting room, giggling madly and elbowing each other in excitement, curious to know what was going to happen next. Yamamoto cleared his throat and nodded slightly as a sign for the Vice-Captains to enter the room. A glint of amusement could be seen in his eyes as well as Sasakibe's. All of them observed the unconscious babies on the floor. A short bob-haired little girl. A braided child. A slightly long-haired boy with three pairs of now too big kenseikan. A puppy (or a wolf cub). A child who was covered in a pile of pink haori and a wide straw hat. A spiky white-haired boy who hadn't been much smaller than before he shrank. A fierce-looking boy with bells on his hair. A boy who looked weird in a mask twice his face. A pale, white-haired child.

The Vice-Captains stood almost stupidly, staring at their captains who looked very cute as little kids. They couldn't help smiling at the sleeping children. Each of the Vice-Captains picked up their own captain quietly, except for Kira, Momo and Hisagi who were captainless. Kira decided to follow Renji to the Sixth because he had been Renji's best friend. Momo went with Rangiku to the Tenth and Hisagi decided to pick Juushirou up because the 13th had no Vice-Captain.

Oomaeda had brought the baby Soifon who seemed so tiny in his fat arms. He headed quickly to the 2nd and entered the Captain and Vice-Captain Room, laying the small child as softly as he could on the couch. Soifon produced a purring sound and stirred comfortably on the cozy couch. The fat nobleman had even grinned at this sight, and took a pack of rice crackers and started munching while waiting for his captain to wake up.

The tall female Vice-Captain carried the child Retsu to the Fourth Division. She had somehow managed to slip past the hectic division without being asked a single question. She slipped into the office and put her captain on the long, red sofa. It wasn't really long before Retsu woke up. The girl sat up and yawned, stretching out her arms and stared blankly at Isane. Before Isane had the chance to say anything, the braided girl had lain on the sofa once again, fast asleep.

Renji had removed the oversized kenseikan and haori before he picked Byakuya up. The noble boy had seemed so calm and serene in his sleep, even as a toddler. Renji smiled in amusement as the child stirred comfortably in his arms. Renji walked slowly towards the Sixth, but took the other way around so that nobody would notice them. Kira had trailed closely behind, observing everything.

Iba took the puppy-sized wolf-captain in his arms. Everyone else had been carrying the child, but he was carrying a wolf cub instead! As Iba arrived in the Seventh, he unleashed Goro, the 7th's dog, who was happily greeting them. It was confused not to see the usual giant buddy of his with Iba, but woofed and wagged its tail happily as it saw the 'new playmate' Iba had brought in his hands. Goro woofed excitedly as Iba put Sajin down on the floor, licking him happily.

Nanao had been delighted to see a wavy-haired boy instead of a big flirt. She picked her captain up and disappeared in a flash step to the 8th. She laid him down on his favorite couch, the one he usually slept on, and covered him with his pink haori. His straw hat had been forgotten in the 1st. Nanao then sat on her desk, doing her paperwork. Unlike most other Vice-Captains, she wasn't obsessed to see everything about the now-children captains. Well, she was interested, but not in a sleeping Shunsui, even if he was a child. She saw Shunsui sleeping everyday.

Rangiku and Momo walked to the 10th as if they were in a fashion show. Momo was carrying Toushirou on her back. "I used to carry him like this when we were younger," Momo explained. She seemed to be more than happy to do that again. Meanwhile, Rangiku was admiring the cuteness of the captain the whole way back to the 10th.

Yachiru observed the little Kenpachi, her forefinger tapping on her lower lip as she pondered. Her Ken-chan had been much bigger than she was, but now he was the same size as her. He would be more fun to play with! Yachiru nodded to herself happily and picked Kenpachi up, jumping over roofs to the 11th.

Nemu picked up the person who was her father until 2 minutes ago expressionlessly. She said nothing as she brought Mayuri back to the 12th. She had placed him in the lab, in his usual chair. Akon and the others had seen this, but said nothing. They went back to work as if nothing unusual had happened.

Hisagi flash-stepped to the 13th, carrying a sleeping Juushirou on his arms. So he used to have short hair back then, Hisagi mused. He felt a slight feeling of pity in his arms as he reflected that the 13th had no vice-captain, and its captain would be the only captain to be taken care not by his own vice.

Back in the 1st Division headquarters, Yamamoto sat in his desk, sipping a cup of steaming green tea. Sasakibe stood by his side as usual.

"What do you think, Taichou? How would they react when they wake up?" Sasakibe asked. He was, of course, referring to the now-children captains.

"We'll see," Yamamoto replied. He seemed to be enjoying this. "The only ones I've seen as a child was Byakuya, and he was completely different than he is now. Or more correctly, than he used to be twenty minutes ago. I don't know whether Kisuke's machine reverses their growth or only shrink their bodies."

Sasakibe nodded. He was as curious as Yamamoto and the other vice-captains.

Byakuya was the first one to wake up. The noble boy seemed to be confused with his surroundings. He was sure he did not sleep in an office last night. He observed the room. This was… no doubt this was the 6th Division Captain's room! How come did he end up there? He did not remember anything but himself. Byakuya yawned.

Renji turned to the direction of his captain. He saw that the child had woken up, and greeted him, "Hey there." Renji then stopped because he was pondering what to call Byakuya. What if he remembered everything? What if he knew he was Renji's captain? Renji decided to take the gamble and called him as an adult would address a child, "Hey Byakuya, why are you so quiet?"

Byakuya had not really remembered this pineapple haired man, but somehow he felt he had met him somewhere. A name popped into his head. Byakuya decided to try whether it was the right name. "Renji… san?" He added the suffix –san just in case he would be mad if he called him by his first name, for he didn't remember what he used to call this man.

So he actually remembers my name, Renji thought. But it seems he doesn't remember his rank or anything else... Renji grinned. Renji-san sounded good enough for him.

"Why am I here, Renji-san? I don't remember sleeping here last night… Did I?"

Well, you actually fell asleep in the 1st's meeting room, Renji thought amusedly. But he pushed it off and replied, "Yes. You fell asleep after…"

Byakuya cut Renji's sentence, "After a while day playing?"

"Ah, yes, right, after a whole day playing. You must be very tired," Renji lied. He was getting more and more amused with this. Byakuya was nothing the same as he was before he was turned to a child by Urahara an hour ago, or so. This child Byakuya was very cute and innocent, so unlike the adult version!

Byakuya himself was satisfied. Somehow he wasn't able to remember what had happened to him yesterday. All he remembered was that Ginrei-ojiisama brought him to the 6th early in the morning… but he wasn't sure that it happened yesterday, too. It might be two days ago, or three days ago, or maybe a week ago. But never mind. His thought flew to Renji. Who was this red-haired man? He wasn't sure he had ever met him before yet he had known his name. This is so strange. Ah, Renji-san is wearing the 6th's armband on his arm. He must be Ojiisama's vice captain, Byakuya thought to himself, satisfied.

Renji pondered for a while. Yamamoto-soutaichou had told to bring Byakuya back to the 1st's meeting room after lunch, and it was still several minutes past nine. And the division's lunch would be on 12, still a long time from now. Maybe I could play with him or something like that, Renji thought. But even so, I don't know what games to play because there wasn't many games for us to play with when we were smaller, and this child was a noble, Renji added bitterly.

"Renji-san, Renji-san?" Byakuya had walked over to Renji, tugging his hakama.

"Yes?" Renji turned to him.

"Can we play? Can we play something?" Byakuya was now bouncing up and down excitedly.

"What do you want to play?" Renji asked.

"Hm…" Byakuya put his right index finger on his lower lip and began to tap his lip as he thought. "What about… what about… what about tag?!" He finally said as he couldn't think of another game.

Renji turned to Kira, someone whom he had ignored since Byakuya woke up. Kira was sitting on a chair at the corner of the room, observing everything curiously. Kira merely smiled at him.

"But tag wouldn't be fun to play with only three people, don't you think?" Renji said, his eyebrow was arching as he glanced at Kira unsurely.

"Three people? Who is the third person, Renji-san?" Byakuya had not seen Kira in the room.

"Ah, the third person would be Kira, the blonde who was sitting over there…" Renji pointed at Kira, and Byakuya turned to the direction of Renji's finger.

"Hello Byakuya-kun, I am Kira Izuru. It's nice to meet you," Kira greeted Byakuya.

Byakuya quickly stood up from the couch and bowed. "It's nice to meet you too, Kira-san." He turned his attention to Renji once again. "Now, can we look for more people to play with? Please?"

Renji laughed, "Of course we can. Let's go, we'll see if some people have woken up and can play with you. Let's go to the… Tenth Division."

**I'm sorry if this chapter is too short, but I haven't enough time to type everything I have in my mind. So I will put the rest in the third chapter… Hehe. I'm really sorry! Hope you enjoy and please review! **


	3. Games

**To Babysit the Captains  
****Part One of the Soul Society Holiday Project**

**Games**

Renji knocked on the door of the 10th's Division office. Rangiku was the one who opened the door.

"Yes?" she said as she opened the door. "Renji!" she squealed as she saw him. "And Kira! What brings the two of you here? Don't you have to take care of --" her words are cut as she saw the kid Byakuya with them. "Oh my gosh! What a cute boy! Could this really be Kuchiki Byakuya?!" Rangiku kneeled on her right knee and pinched Byakuya's cheeks. Byakuya threw Renji a confused look and rubbed his cheeks.

"Yeah, of course this is Byakuya," Renji laughed. "Byakuya, this is Rangiku-san. She is the Vice-Captain of the 10th, as you can see. Oh, by the way, Rangiku-san, can we come in? Byakuya would like to play a game of tag and we're now looking for more participants... Has Hitsugaya-taichou woken up?"

Rangiku nodded, "Yeah. Apparently Urahara's machine's effect wears off after an hour. And oh, anyway, he's Shiro-chan for now, okay? He's no different from what he is as a Captain, though... He's grumpy and protests a lot." Rangiku laughed. It was as if her expression said 'he doesn't change as much as Kuchiki-taichou did'.

As Renji, Kira and Byakuya entered the office room, they were able to hear Momo and Toushirou's voices. It was as if they were playfully fighting or something like that.

"Yo, Hinamori," Renji greeted. "And hey there, Shiro-chan."

"Hi Hinamori-kun, Toushirou-kun," Kira said.

Momo turned to the voices of her friends, "Oh, hello Abarai-kun, Kira-kun." Momo turned to Toushirou, "Shiro-chan, that is Abarai-kun and that one is Kira-kun. Say hi."

Toushirou grumbled a hello.

"Aw, don't be so rude, Shiro-chan," Rangiku whined. "Why do you have to be so cold even as a child?" Rangiku sighed. "Hey, Shiro-chan, don't you think you have to say hi to Byakuya-kun as well?"

Toushirou grumbled another hello.

"So, what are you doing here, Abarai-kun, Kira-kun?" Momo asked.

"Well," Renji began. "Byakuya wants to play a game of tag, so we're here to see if you guys wanted to play with us..."

"No way," Toushirou interrupted.

"Come on, Shiro-chan, you're no fun!" Rangiku sighed again.

"It's okay if he doesn't want to play tag," Byakuya suddenly said, casting Toushirou a friendly look. "We can play another game!"

"I don't want to play any games," Toushirou grunted.

"Why not? Games are fun!" Byakuya said happily.

"Now I really don't believe that Kuchiki-taichou used to be like this," Rangiku mumbled.

"Me too. Who would have guessed the ever stoic captain was a cute, innocent child who likes to play games?" Renji said.

Byakuya walked over to Toushirou and sat beside him. "There must be one game you like to play!"

Momo thought for a while and said, "Why don't we try spinning tops?" Toushirou used to like spinning tops when he was smaller, but not _that _small. He hadn't known tops when he was a toddler, anyway.

Toushirou stared at Momo for a while and asked, "What's tops?"

"Yes, what are tops?" Byakuya repeated.

"Well, you'll see," Momo winked at the boys.

"But where can we get the tops?" Kira asked confusedly.

"Hm... I think Shiro-chan keeps several of his tops in his sleeping quarters -- Our grandmother used to send him a top with the natto she sent Toushirou, just to remind him of Junrinan... But she stopped sending tops after a while because Toushirou had asked her to."

"So we... are going to invade Hitsugaya-taichou's bedroom?" Rangiku sounded really excited.

"I think it would be much more polite if we let Hinamori-kun search for the tops alone," Kira said.

"Yeah," Renji nodded. He glanced at the two boys. Byakuya seemed to be teaching Toushirou how to play scissors-paper-stone. Toushirou seemed bored, but played with Byakuya anyway. Kira shook his head at the sight.

"What could've changed him so much?" Kira asked.

"Who knows," Renji shrugged. "Maybe it was the death of his wife. Maybe it was the death of his parents. Maybe he just wanted to be a perfect shinigami. It could be because of anything."

They waited for Momo to come back. Twenty minutes later, Momo came back with four tops. Momo showed them how to spin the tops, and they had fun trying. Even Renji, Kira and Rangiku had taken turns to spin the tops. Toushirou had won most of the games. It was amusing to watch how Toushirou had enjoyed the game very much. Byakuya had lost most of the games.

"What do you think about this: we can collect the other captains and see if they want to spin tops too! Wouldn't that be fun?" Rangiku suggested.

"That is a good idea, Matsumoto-san," Kira agreed.

"You know what, let me and Kira get the others. You two can watch the kids..." Renji said as if they had been doing this everyday.

"Fine. Get them all!" Rangiku said.

Renji and Kira begun to visit the other Divisions. They started with the 7th.

"Iba-san?" Renji began. "We're playing games at the 10th... Spinning tops. Wanna come?"

"Puppies can't spin tops..." Iba replied, looking at the puppy Sajin who was currently playing with Goro. "But fine, then, I'll come to the 10th," Iba finally said when he remembered that the 10th Division meant Matsumoto-fukutaichou.

"Okay then, see you at the 10th. We're going to collect the others, too," Renji said as he and Kira left the 7th and headed to the 13th.

Kira knocked on the door and Hisagi opened it.

"Hisagi-san," Kira greeted. "Hinamori-kun and Matsumoto-san invited you and Ukitake-taichou to the 10th. We're having games there, would you like to participate?"

"Heh, sure, why not?" Hisagi answered. "I really feel strange being in this Division. I had no idea what to do when Juushirou woke up, so I gave him a piece of paper and a brush and he began drawing. He left several marks on the floor, though. Guess I'll have someone here clean it before I go... Or maybe after I come back."

"Good, then. See you at the 10th," Renji waved goodbye.

And they wandered around Soul Society to collect the Captains. Everyone had agreed to come. Both Renji and Kira couldn't really imagine Retsu sitting with the others, playing games and stuff. Shunsui had actually woken up but slept again because he had nothing to do. Oomaeda had given Soifon rice crackers to eat after she had finished asking questions. At last, the two went back to the 10th.

The captains were all sitting on the floor. Momo and Rangiku had made a top-spinning tournament after everyone had tried to spin the tops. Toushirou had won all of them, and he seemed to be somewhat happy about this.

Suddenly, Soifon yawned, "I'm bored of playing tags... Can we play something else?"

"Sure," Rangiku said. "What do you want to play?"

"Hide-and-seek!" The children shouted together.

"Fine, fine... Now, let's go outside," Rangiku chuckled. The vice-captains shepherded the kids and they arrived in the 10th's garden.

"Now, we have some rules," Rangiku announced. "The first rule is that you may not go outside this garden. The second rule is that if you can't be found after 15 minutes, you will have to reveal yourself. Now, let's play!"

The kids did scissors-paper-stone to determine who would be the seeker. Shunsui lost, so he had to find the others.

"Count to thirty!" Byakuya exclaimed. It seemed that he was only able to count until thirty.

"No -- thirty isn't long enough -- count to one hundred!" Retsu objected.

"I'll count to one hundred, then," Shunsui said lazily. He walked to the nearest wall and began to count, "One, two, three..." The other children scattered away and hid.

Sajin, who had also participated in the game, hid under a bush. His body as a wolf cub was small enough that he wasn't seen. Soifon climbed up a tree, and Retsu hid behind the tree Soifon climbed. Byakuya had climbed another tree beside Soifon's. Toushirou lay stomach down on the tall grasses. Kenpachi had found a box full of kendo sticks and hid inside it. Mayuri hissed and hid behind Shunsui, giggling non-stop. But after Shunsui counted to 50 he moved and hid with Kenpachi in the box. Juushirou found another box and hid in it.

"One hundred!" Shunsui finally yelled. "Ready or not, I'll find you."

Shunsui searched the bushes and found Sajin. He climbed a tree and found Byakuya, who accused that Shunsui had cheated. From that tree, Shunsui saw Soifon, but weirdly enough he didn't see Retsu. He nearly stepped on Toushirou when he passed the tall grasses. After 12 minutes he found the large box full of kendo sticks and discovered Kenpachi and Mayuri. But he hadn't managed to find Juushirou. He kept on searching and searching until 15 minutes had passed, but he still didn't find him.

Rangiku announced that it's been 15 minutes, and Juushirou was named the winner. She shouted, telling Juushirou that he could come out now, but nobody came out. The vice-captain searched the area, but had also failed to find him.

"What if he passed out in his hiding place?" Kira asked nervously.

"No, don't think bad..." Renji was speaking when suddenly Byakuya's shout interrupted him.

"I found him! I found him! I found Juushirou-kun!" Byakuya bounced up and down in front of the box Juushirou was hiding in. "He's inside!"

And Hisagi saw into the box, which cover had been taken off by Byakuya. Juushirou was inside, sleeping peacefully.

"He thought we all took to long," Shunsui, who had been watching, commented and shook his head like an old man.

**A/n: And that's the end of chapter 3! How was it? I hope you liked it! I really had fun writing this chapter eventhough this is so short... Let's just say I'm not used to writing long chapters. Plus, this was supposed to be in chapter 2, but I didn't have enough time yesterday and split them into two :P Please review! I'd like to have feedbacks and critics!**


	4. Lunchtime!

**To Babysit the Captains**

**Part One of Soul Society Holiday Project**

**Lunchtime!**

After playing various games, the now-baby captains were tired and all of them took a nap. A large mattress was laid in the 10th Division office, and all the children were sleeping on it. The vice-captains observed them with amusement.

"They look so peaceful, don't they?" Isane commented.

"Yeah," Rangiku agreed. "They're so cute~!"

Hisagi sighed, "Now that they're all napping, we can decide what to do next, huh?"

"The next thing we would probably do after they wake up is lunch… It's nearly lunchtime, anyways," Renji said.

Kira nodded in agreement.

"What should we give them for lunch?" Momo asked.

"Sushi?" Hisagi suggested.

"Nah, sushi would be too difficult for them to eat… They'd mess up with it," Renji disagreed. "We'd have trouble cleaning up after they finish…"

"Sashimi?" someone else spoke up.

"Kids don't eat raw food, it's not healthy for them," Isane shook her head.

"Rice crackers?" Oomaeda suggested.

"No one would eat rice crackers for lunch," Rangiku sighed, annoyed. "Other than you," she added. "Any better suggestion?"

The room became silent as everyone stopped to think.

"Porridge?" at last Momo said.

"That's a good idea!" Nanao agreed. "Porridge isn't unhealthy for children; that's what babies eat anyways."

"How come we didn't think of that before?"

"Yeah, how come? It was obvious."

"Truly obvious."

"At any rate," Nanao interrupted. "Someone needs to cook the porridge."

Oomaeda shook his head. "I can't cook; what's the use of cooking when you have numerous servants at home?"

Everyone grunted at the statement.

Kira also shook his head. "I've never cooked for anyone else other than me."

"I can cook, but…" Isane said unsurely.

Momo shook her head.

"You wouldn't know what would the porridge taste like if I'm cooking it," Renji smirked, almost naughtily.

Iba kept silence.

Nanao smiled scarily.

"I can't cook," Rangiku declared apologetically.

Yachiru obviously couldn't cook; she was far shorter than the stove anyway. A division barrack would definitely be on fire if Yachiru cooked.

Everyone glanced doubtfully at Nemu, not that she paid attention, anyway.

Everyone stared at Hisagi.

"Ah, I just remembered! Hisagi-san often had cooking session with Tousen when he was still the captain, right?" Renji said.

"Yeah, doesn't he like cooking very much?" Iba nodded.

Everyone stared hopefully at Hisagi.

"Fine, fine," Hisagi finally gave up. "I'd cook the porridge… I'd have Kotetsu-fukutaichou to help me since she's so familiar with porridge…"

"Now, everything's settled!" Rangiku chirped happily.

"Don't forget, we'll have to go to the 1st after lunch, with the captains," Kira reminded.

"I wonder why the Soutaichou wanted to see us after lunch," Renji muttered.

"I think he wants to see how the captains in chibi version are," Hisagi suggested.

"Maybe," Renji shrugged.

"I think the Soutaichou actually have seen some of the captains when they're still kids… Because he's so old already," Rangiku said.

"I think he has seen Ukitake-taichou and Kyouraku-taichou as children or teenagers, he looks old enough for that," Momo said.

"What about Unohana-taichou?" Hisagi asked.

"Hm… I'm not sure about that one," Rangiku frowned.

"He might have seen her as well…" Iba said.

"How old do you think he is?" Kira asked.

"Probably ten thousand," Renji estimated.

"_At least_ ten thousand," Hisagi corrected.

Suddenly, the clock claimed that it was 11 o'clock already.

Hisagi got up. "Yosh, it's time to begin cooking… Or else the porridge might not be ready when it comes to lunchtime. Where's the kitchen, Rangiku-san?"

"Right there~!" Rangiku answered happily, pointing at the direction of the kitchen. Hisagi walked to the pointed direction. Isane stood up as well and followed Hisagi.

It didn't take Hisagi and Isane long to cook the porridge for the captains. They had even made onigiri for the vice-captains.

Time passed quickly, and the clock said it was 12 o'clock. All the captains were still sleeping.

Momo glanced at the clock. "Should we wake them up now? They've been napping for almost two hours…"

Rangiku nodded, "Yeah, I think we should wake them up now. It's already lunchtime anyway, and Shuuhei and Isane have prepared the porridge~!"

For short, the vice-captains woke their captains up with _a little _trouble.

And the lunch begins.

Each of the children was now holding a small bowl of porridge and a spoon in hand, sitting side by side on the floor.

"Why porridge?!" Byakuya complained. The others quickly followed Byakuya's example and whined "Why porridge?" as well.

"Because…" Hisagi began. He glanced at Momo, who had the idea of porridge.

"Because…" Momo repeated. She was unsure of what to say as well.

Isane glared at the two and said, "Because porridge is good for children. It is very nutritious and it can make you grow faster." She smiled.

"But why does it have to be porridge? There must be lots of other nutritious food other than porridge…" Byakuya whined.

"Yes, yes, that's true," the others followed. Kenpachi and Juushirou, anyhow, didn't complain like the others. They were busy enjoying the porridge as the others were whining.

"Can't you just follow Kenpachi and Juushirou's example and eat your porridge?" Renji sighed. "Be good kids like them…"

"Yeah, all of you better finish your meals quickly, because we're going to meet Yamamoto-soutaichou after lunch," Hisagi added.

Apparently, the captains had heard horror stories about the old man in their childhoods since they all became silence at once and began eating quietly.

Juushirou broke the silence. "Can I have seconds?" he asked innocently.

Everyone else stared at him. Kenpachi grinned and asked, "Can I have seconds too?"

Hisagi blinked, then nodded, "Yeah, sure. Why not? Come with me to the kitchen..."

The two followed Hisagi to the kitchen.

"What do we meet the Soutaichou for?" Byakuya asked.

Rangiku ponders for a while, and then replied, "Well, he summoned us vice-captains and said that he wanted to meet you… _all of you_…"

"I'm curious why he wants to meet us," Byakuya commented.

"Yeah, me too," Mayuri agreed.

"The question is," Shunsui said, surprisingly sounding adult-like, "Why only us? There must be many other children, not only us!"

"That's true," Retsu nodded.

Rangiku shrugs, "Well, I myself also don't know why you guys are the only ones summoned, but… let's just finish the lunch quickly, alright?"

**A/n: Sorry I took forever for the update… It even took longer than the previous chapter and I went without notifying anything T_T Please forgive me, and I do hope you'd like the chapter… Oh, and special thanks to all reviewers and all who put this into their favorite lists :D**


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